The Goatman of Texas

The following article is for entertainment purposes only. It is not intended as scholarly research or as a final authority on the subject.

Welcome to Freaky Friday. Today is a paranormal Friday. Cryptid sightings are pervasive throughout the US. In Texas, we have Bigfoot, the chupacabra, donkey lady…and the goatman. Today, we’re going to discuss the Texas Goatman.

The more I researched the Texas Goatman, the more stories I found. Before long, I realized I wanted to illustrate how pervasive the story is more than I wanted to discuss the origins of the legend. Thus, my intent today is to share a thumbnail of each story I’ve found. My sources are at the end of the post.

I found two types of stories: cryptids and ghosts.

The Goatman as a Cryptid:

The Goat Man of White Rock Lake (Dallas, Texas)

This beast is very tall—seven feet—and has horns and hooves like a goat but stands erect like a man. The creature’s face has humanoid features. The skin is greenish, and it has long, nasty fingernails. It is known to throw objects at people.

Another description of the White Rock Lake Goatman has it covered with thin but coarse brown hair and walking both on two feet and on four feet. This version of the Goatman vanished into thin air before a witness’s eyes.

The Lake Worth Monster (NW Tarrant County, Texas–Near Fort Worth)

The Lake Worth Monster by Sallie Ann Clark

The Lake Worth Monster was seen near Greer Island, which is a small patch of land near where the west fork of the Trinity River runs into Lake Worth.

This story has been made into a book, documented in the Fort Worth Star Telegram, and covered by Fox 4 News in Fort Worth. It’s a popular story.

[Click here to watch a short video about the Lake Worth Monster by Fox 4 News.]

The hoopla started in 1969 when two couples saw a creature that had both fur and scales and looked like a cross between a man and a goat. They reported it to the Fort Worth Police. This started a monster-hunting craze during which other sightings of the monster occurred.

Other reports said the creature looked like a big, white ape. This creature was associated with several half-eaten sheep.

This well-known picture is associated with the Lake Worth Monster. It was taken by Alan Plaster in 1969 (during the monster-hunting craze).

The Goatman of West, Texas (McLennan County, Central Texas)

This goatman story has a semi-scientific basis. Scientists bred a half-man, half goat in a lab somewhere in North Texas. When they could no longer handle the monster, they dumped it in West, Texas where it now lives under a railroad bridge. Be careful, this goatman attacks passersby.

The Goatman of McLennan County (Central Texas)

This goatman is a satyr-like cryptid which is thought to be a demon from Hell. It has hoofs and horns and a man’s torso. It roams the rivers and lakes of McClellan County in search of its favorite prey—children. Reports date back to the 1920s and are as recent as the 1960s.

The Ghostly Goatman

The Goatman of Alton Bridge (Denton County, North Texas)

Alton Bridge was built in the late 1800s. The short version of the story is that in the 1930s the KKK hanged an African American businessman from the bridge.

Watch a short video that tells the story much more entertainingly than I do:

It is widely believed the lynching story is an urban legend. To read more about that, click here.

Alton Bridge is now closed to motor traffic, but one legend says motorists who drive across the bridge at night with their headlights turned off will encounter the Goatman’s ghost. Another legend says that motorists who honk twice will see the ghost’s fiery red eyes.

The spookiest part of this story is that in the 1960s several abandoned cars were discovered near old Alton Bridge. The cars were linked with disappearances.